Do You Want to be Made Well?

May 5^th, 2013                “Do You Want to be Made Well?”             Rev. Heather Jepsen

John 5:1-18

          Close followers of the lectionary cycle will note that there are two gospel readings to choose from this morning.  A pastor can read from John 14 where Jesus speaks of the coming “comforter” or Holy Spirit, or a pastor might choose this reading from John 5.  I have always found this story intriguing, and since this is its only turn in the three year cycle of readings, this is where I have decided to focus today.

          What we have this morning is a typical miracle story from the gospel of John.  The setting of our story is the healing pool of Bethzatha or Bethsaida, depending on your translation.  Unlike some Biblical places that are a challenge to locate, the pool of Bethzatha is a place historians are familiar with and a current archeological site in Jerusalem.  Probably some sort of natural spring, those in need of healing would gather around and wait for the waters to bubble up.  Later copiers of the text will add in the story that an angel would come down and stir the waters and that only the first man in the pool would be healed.  This cruel tradition would certainly make it hard for the weak and lame to get a turn in the pool, as the most agile person would likely be the first to jump in.

          We are given little detail of the man at the pools edge, only that he has been laying there for 38 years; quite a long time to wait for change.  Typical of Jesus’ talents in the gospel of John, Jesus demonstrates not only the power to heal but also holy awareness or inside information on a person’s life.  Though he has not previously met the man, Jesus knows that the man has been waiting a long time for healing.  Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?”

          The man replies with that may be simply facts or may be excuses.  “I have no one to help me get in the water and I am too slow to get there myself.”  The man does not say he wants to be healed.  The man does not know Jesus or show any sign of faith.  The man simply explains why he has yet to enjoy the healing elements of this pool.  Jesus’ response is to command the man.  “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.”  That is all it takes as the man is made well and follows Jesus’ command.

          Now we enter in to the purpose of this story in John’s gospel, to discuss the meaning or trouble with Sabbath.  It was on a Sabbath that this miracle was performed and so Jesus and the man are bound to have a run-in with the religious authorities.  First the man is in trouble for carrying his mat on the holy day.  It is interesting to note that when the authorities ask the man who healed him he doesn’t know.  It is only after Jesus runs into him again that he remembers who Jesus is. 

Eventually Jesus is in trouble for healing the man on the Sabbath.  Jesus’ excuse is to tell the authorities, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”  The conflict escalates as the religious leaders rightly understand that Jesus is equating himself with God, another theme of the gospel of John.

I am intrigued by this miracle story for two reasons.  First of all, there is no mention of faith, at all, anywhere in the story.  The man does not know or recognize Jesus, he does not demonstrate any faith, he does not ask for healing, and there is no typical “go in peace, your faith has made you well.”  This is all particularly striking as the story directly follows a story in which a royal official’s son is healed from a distance due to that man’s great faith.

Today’s story flies in the face of all the connections made between faith and miracles.  The guy demonstrates no faith before the healing, and even more surprising, the man appears to demonstrate no faith even after the healing.  Miracles are not caused by faith, and miracles don’t appear to cause faith either.  It is an interesting counter-example to what we have come to think of as a typical healing story.

The other thing I find very intriguing about this story is the question that Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be made well?”  The man doesn’t reply with a “Yes” or “Of course”.  Instead, the man begins to list the reasons that he is not well.  Excuse one “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up” and excuse two “While I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  Now, the gospel writer does not explain in detail this man’s condition so I don’t know exactly how bad off he was or how limited his movement was.  What we can discern from the gospel is that the man had waited in the same place for 38 years and did not experience healing.  Maybe he didn’t ask for it, maybe nobody was willing to help him, or maybe he was not truly motivated to seek healing.  It’s hard to say.

I am intrigued by Jesus’ question, because I wonder what our response would be if asked.  “Do you want to be made well?”  I imagine that for most of us, the initial response is an emphatic “Yes!  I want to be made well!”  But then when we look at what it takes to be made well, we might find we have more excuses than we have the energy to seek healing.  “I want to be made well, but I’m not ready to quit smoking.”  “I want to be made well, but I am too stressed to start eating right.”  “I want to be made well, but I don’t have time for exercise.”  Like the man by the waters, we have lots of excuses for why we are not well yet.

I think there is a deeper component to this question as well, and that concerns spiritual wellness.  When Jesus encounters the man later, he says to him, “See, you have been made well!  Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”  At first it appears that Jesus is associating illness with sinful behavior.  But we know from the story of the man with the withered hand that neither Jesus nor the author of the gospel of John, believe that.  It is my guess, that rather than physical illness, Jesus is speaking of spiritual illness here.  While the man has been made physically well, he is still lacking in the area of healthy spirituality.

Again, I would ask us, when it comes to our spiritual health, “Do you want to be made well?”  If the church is offering a spiritual pool of healing, a place where the proverbial waters are stirred up by the Holy Spirit, how many of us are jumping in, and how many of us are hanging back?  How many of us have sat on the sidelines for 38 years with excuses for why we haven’t been made spiritually well?  Like the man at the pool, we have lots of reasons for why we haven’t gotten into the healing waters yet.  “I can’t pray because I don’t know how to talk to God.”  “I can’t read the Bible because I am too busy and it is too boring.”  “I can’t come to church today because I have company, or because I have too much to do, or because it is nice outside and I have yard work to get done.”  How many excuses do we have to explain why we haven’t been healed yet?

Thankfully, God’s response to our excuses is not judgment or condemnation, it is grace.  The man by the pool didn’t recognize Jesus, didn’t show any sign of faith, didn’t even ask for healing, and yet by the abundant grace of Christ he was told to “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  So too, God offers us abundant, grace-filled healing.  Even if we have been sitting beside the pool of faith for 38 years, coming to church every Sunday and watching as others’ lives are transformed; it is not too late for us.  It is never too late for us to rise, take up our mats, and walk forward into a new life of rejuvenated spirituality, and a new life of mission and ministry.

So the question today is “Do you want to be made well?”  Of course we do.  For some of us there is a need for physical healing.  We are recovering from illness or surgery and we are doing everything we can to take care of ourselves and get better.  Not everyone at the pool had as many excuses as this guy.  For others of us there is a need to do more; start eating right, getting out for a walk in the sunshine, and doing a better job of taking care of our bodies. 

“Do we want to be made spiritually well?”  Of course we do.  That is why we are here today.  But when it comes to this one, I think all of us could do better; including me!  We all could use a little more prayer time, a little more Bible Study, a little more church in our lives.  In some ways we are all still standing by the edge of the spiritual pool waiting for something to happen.  And when something does happen, we often still hold back, afraid of what jumping in the pool might mean, afraid of the change that God might work in our lives. 

Today we are all standing on the edge of something great, we are standing on the edge of healing spiritual waters.  It is my hope that the next time the Holy Spirit comes down and stirs the waters of this church; that we will all jump in.  And not only that, but we will grab the hand of the person next to us and jump in together.  By the abundant grace of God, perhaps this church will stand up, take up our mat, and walk.  Amen.